Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Holbrook Murder

A supposed gang member admitted last week to his role in killing a Holbrook man in a larger murder plot.

Luis Cherry, 22, from Queens, N.Y., pleaded guilty last Friday to second degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors said he and , 34, of Yaphank, another alleged gang member, fatally shot in front of his home on an October morning in 2010.

Aside from the Williams shooting, Ross was also arrested for the May 2010 killing of a construction flagman, , in Lake Ronkonkoma less than a mile from the Williams murder spot.

“The catalyst behind the fatal shooting of the construction worker last spring was Ross’ anger after a verbal dispute the pair had about heavy traffic at the construction site that Hirt worked at,” Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said in March 2011. 

Prosecutors said Ross and Cherry killed Williams to lure a drug dealer to the funeral, where another murder was planned. Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla said the men killed the wrong man, and Williams was the brother of the intended target.

Cherry will be sentenced February 7 and Ross will be back in court on February 28.